Knicks Bulletin: “Something’s up with the pipes in here.”
The day has arrived and the Knicks will play basketball with an Eastern Conference Finals berth on the line tonight and a ticket to be punched as the Boston Celtics await for New York in the final round before the real final round.
Indiana will host the Knicks trying to live another day, but New York has proved to be the better team for the series and it’s fair to assume they will put an end to this longer-than-expected matchup ahead of Tuesday’s start of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Here is what the protagonists of this second-round series have said in the past few hours, and Fred Katz retelling the story of an inspiring fart.
Tom Thibodeau
On the difference between the series against the Sixers and the second round…
“This is totally different. We’ve got to be locked into exactly what we have to do against Indiana. Philly has nothing to do with this. The last game has nothing to do with this. It’s being locked into this game. Just be ready for this game.”
On staying focused in the second-round series without thinking about the ECF ahead of time…
“The important thing is not to get lost in all the hyperbole and distractions, and lock into winning the game. Just focus on the task at hand, which is to win the game. So don’t get sidetracked, just lock in, and that’s the one thing I think this team has done well. Put in the necessary work that goes into winning into it, and don’t get lost. Just stay focused.”
Jalen Brunson
On Josh Hart’s rebounding abilities…
“Sometimes I don’t understand how he does it, but he just flies [in] out of nowhere. He gets the ball, and even when the ball doesn’t look like it’s obtainable. He’s right there.”
On the Knicks’ focus on a game-by-game basis…
“The biggest thing is focusing on the little things. Obviously you want to run and get stops and get easy baskets and execute on offense and help each other on defense. But the 50–50 balls, the hustle plays, the charges, everything that’s difficult to do is the things you have to focus on.”
On getting a couple of days off between Game 5 and Game 6…
“Whenever you can get rest, no matter the situation, it’s great. But I for sure am ready to play, ready to go. It’s going to be a great test for us.”
On OG Anunoby’s progress…
“Doing a little bit more. But basically, we’ll see where he is tomorrow. Just on the court, that’s it. Just light work, very light.”
Josh Hart
On his approach to rebounding…
“It’s always a little of both. Hopefully 70–30 I find the ball. But sometimes it’s just the way the ball bounces or it’s deflected. Sometimes it’s just me going out there and thinking where it’s going to land or where it’s going to bounce off the rim and pursuing that spot. And I think at the end of the day to win, to be successful, you have to do the little things. You have to obviously play great defense, and you have to end possessions with a defensive rebound.”
On playing whaterever role the Knicks need him at…
“I’m still not a 4. I played a couple of possessions at 5. This season has been very interesting. There’s been times I bring the ball up, there’s times I guard another 5, setting screens and rolling and being the center. So I’ve played every position. One thing [Villanova] Coach [Jay] Wright always told me before, ‘You’re not what they label you as, you’re a basketball player.’ And I think that’s my position, being a basketball player, and hopefully Thibs knows that I’m not a 4.”
On the team’s promise of putting on a true effort in Indiana for Game 6, not like in Games 3 & 4…
“Energy. Last time we were in that building, we got our butts kicked. We got blown out by 32. We didn’t embody what [Tom Thibodeau] is, what this team is, what the city is. And it was embarrassing. So next is Game 6, you have to come out with energy, with physicality and just a sense of toughness.”
On his focus last summer entering this season…
“That’s always the goal that you go into every season with [to get better]. Obviously, if we were able to beat Miami in the process of that, that would have been amazing because that’s all the only thing I thought about this summer was Miami with Spo [coach Erik Spoelstra], Jimmy [Butler], Bam [Adebayo], Kyle [Lowry]. Like, that’s all I thought about this whole summer.”
“So we came in with a mindset of, ‘OK, we got close to the conference finals. But just because we got close last year doesn’t mean it’s just gonna happen. We gotta make sure we go out there and put the work in to make it happen.’”
Fred Katz (New York Knicks Beat Writer)
On the fart that fostered New York’s win in Game 5…
“It was purely audio. As a matter of fact, when it happened, it strung along for a lot longer than one might expect for a fart of that volume and that context. It was a loud-and-proud one.”
“It actually didn’t get a reaction audibly at all. It got pure silence and a look over to that one player, and that one player looked around as if he was being inconspicuous and said with a completely straight face, ‘Something’s up with the pipes in here,’ and that got the huge laugh.”
Rick Carlisle (Indiana Pacers Head Coach)
On what the Pacers need to do to avoid elimination in Game 6…
“F–king play hard. That’s what we got to do. That’s what New York did in Game 5.”
“The sweet spot is go rebound the f—ing ball and not take it out of the net and things will be a lot different.”
On statistical performance and needed improvements…
“The statistical numbers on possession and turnovers and all that, it tells the story of a wipeout. We got a lot of things we got to do better. We got to [play] harder and with a greater level of execution and detail. Words don’t accomplish anything. It’s actions. So [Friday] will be the key. I know that we’ll have a great crowd, a great building. We’re going to have to do a helluva lot more things better.
